Considering the new Mac Mini, and have some connection questions. Would be used for ripped CDs (lossless), internet radio and DVDs. HDTV monitor is a Toshiba 30HFX85.

Audio is simple. Either the optical or USB would work fine.

If I've read the specs correctly, the Mac mini DVI port should just connect to a 990 DVI input. But will the mini drive my HDTV monitor?

Any comments appreciated.

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/televisions/product.asp?model=30hfx85

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

The new Intel Mini's could be pretty interesting, and with FrontRow included I can see how this could start to be an appealing addition to an entertainment center.

I'd go with the optical out, since the 990's USB input can't handle Dolby Digital or DTS bitstreams. The specs say it'll do 1900x1200 pixels, so it should be able to give your Toshiba a signal it likes.

Gonk -- Quick question from the brain dead. Would the optical out/audio out feed on the Mac mini give you audio and video simultaneously and would the 990 transmit the video through the component outs? I've only used optical outs for audio in the past. Thanks -- Bob

You are right, this hasn't been how Macs have worked the past--

This jack is described as "Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack)" on the Apple web site, so it seems that it can output either digital or analog audio. There must be a System Preference file setting to determine what mode it is in.

Traditionally, you would need to access both the Audio out and the DVI out ports if you were to play a DVD to an external monitor.

Specs on the DVI Port:
DVI video output to support digital resolutions up to 1920 by 1200 pixels; supports 20-inch Apple Cinema Display and 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display; supports coherent digital displays up to 154MHz; supports noncoherent digital displays up to 135MHz

The optical out would just give you audio (which from what I've read would include support for Dolby Digital and DTS as well as good old PCM). Optical can't provide a video signal. The DVI/VGA output is handling video.

The audio output jack on the Mini appears to be the same one they're using on the Airport Express - it is both an analog 1/8" connector and an optical digital connector. I expect both would be active at once, with the analog portion getting a stereo signal from the sound card's DAC and the digital portion getting whatever digital source is being generated (either PCM from CD's and general computer sound effects or a DD/DTS bitstream from DVD's).

It does look intriguing...it could make a nice digital audio server. The faster intel chips address the one weak point of the previous Mac Minis--they were a little pokey.

Gonk/Kahuna -- Thanks for the replies. I agree the Mac mini is intriguing as a small figure digital audio server. My concern is about the legibility of text using DVI-VGA output on a TV screen. My Sony (KV 40 XBR700) is a pre-DVI/HDMI HD set, and so only has composite, S-Video, and component inputs, so it looks like I would be stuck using S-video. -- Bob

Without a DVI/HDMI input or a VGA input, my suspicion is that the text will be pretty ugly - there's a limit to the resolution you can fit through an s-video cable, and the last time I piped a PC's output to an s-video connection the results were merely mediocre. Unless somebody around here knows of a way to go from VGA to component at HD resolutions, which I suppose could yield good results.

There are various DVI to component cables...wonder how those might work? -- Bob